Over the years, the telephone system in this country has been primarily used for voice communications. Within recent years, however, the same telephone system has also been used for the transmission of data with ever increasing success. These data transmissions have been substantially in the form of facsimile transmissions through the use of modern day facsimile machine technology. At the same time, data has also been transmitted by means of more versatile personal computers through the use of modems having increased transmission speeds. The modem has allowed businesses as well as the private sector to be connected together for the transfer and exchange of data and information either from fixed locations or portable work stations.
While each of these devices provide means for the transmission of data, they usually require individual or dedicated telephone lines in order to perform these services. More recently, automatic voice/data switches which can sequentially carry voice and data transmissions have been devised which allow a single telephone line to be connected to a multitude of telecommunications devices. These switches enable a single telephone line to carry at various times voice conversations, facsimile transmissions, and data transmissions via modems.
With the automatic voice/data switches which are presently available, a telephone answering device (TAD) can be connected to the switch so it will directly answer the telephone line if the incoming telephone call is not promptly answered. At the same time, individual or multiple frequency tone signals such as discrete codes, and calling (CNG) tones transmitted on the incoming telephone line can be automatically switched by these devices so as to connect the incoming call with the desired telecommunications device. Thus, a CNG signal transmitted on the calling line by a calling fax machine can be automatically connected by a switch to a fax machine. By the same token, a DTMF or discrete coded signal can be manually applied to the telephone line to command the switching device to make the desired connection.
Faced with increased usage of single telephone lines, and the resulting tying up of the telephone line, many locations have opted for multi-line telephone lines. The multi-line telephones may utilize distinctive rings to identify which line is being called. The currently available automatic voice/data switches do not provide for data routing on multi-line telephone lines. As a result, one of the objects of the present invention is to provide a voice/data switch so that data incoming upon multiple telephone lines can be routed to desired devices or locations.